


Finding A Home

by NightmareGuardian



Category: Doctor Who, Sarah Jane Adventures
Genre: Everyone wants her on their side, F/F, F/M, Gallifreyan, Gen, M/M, Multi, Older Woman/Younger Woman, One-Sided Attraction, Other, Secret Crush, Secret Relationship, Seduction, Seduction to the Dark Side, Slow Romance, Sonic Device, Steampunk is cool, This Is Why We Can't Have Nice Things, Vests are Cool, new to the archive
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-01-14
Updated: 2018-01-14
Packaged: 2019-03-04 00:42:13
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 8,217
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13352880
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NightmareGuardian/pseuds/NightmareGuardian
Summary: When Luke is found, there is another person in the lab. She's unconscious, but very alluring. What's her connection to everyone?





	Finding A Home

**Author's Note:**

> I'm still figuring out the Archive. Please be patient.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Patience played by Anna Popplewell.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I own nothing and no one but Patience and anything you can look up that doesn't show.

A woman and a young boy laid on identical beds side-by-side. As a scream echoed through the halls, they both opened their eyes. There was a loud blaring sound. The two looked at each other in fear. The woman heard sparks and sat up, tearing off her oxygen mask. He boy sat up as well. She pulled wires from her arms and stood, standing shakily. She walked over to him and helped him remove his. She made eye contact with him, her ice blue connecting with his green. The sparks everywhere and the befuddled couple were scared. They went to run. The boy did take off, upon seeing a man's body, but she stayed behind. She saw a plastic bag of familiar items. She grabbed the bag and took off after the boy. The woman had a small frame, blue eyes, and black hair in layers. 

When the suspected they were clear, they turned and walked backwards. They didn't see anyone coming and turned around. There was a young girl in front of them. 

"Um, hello," the child greeted. 

"Um, hello," the boy said in the same tone, learning. 

"Who are you?" 

"Who are you?" he echoed.

The girl sighed. "I'm lost." 

"I'm lost," he echoed. 

They heard people and took off running. As they ran, the woman was attaching [something ](https://i.pinimg.com/originals/79/ac/9d/79ac9dd21c317d6fbfed810851230ee0.jpg)to her wrist. She was fiddling with it like she expected something to happen, but nothing did. "'Damnit!" she yelled. 

The boy opened his mouth. 

She held up her hand, index finger up. "Don't say that. I get that you're learning, but don't. Not that word, ever." She suddenly came to a halt and grabbed the children, pulling them back behind a pole. Some staff passed them. 

The child turned to them. "I'm not with them. I can help you. Got to find a place to hide," she said. She looked around the pole and came back, smiling. "Yes. Come on." She led them out, toward a door.

The woman nodded. "Quick thinking. We'll be safe in here for a bit."

"The one place men never go," the girl agreed. "Sorry for dragging you into the Ladies." 

"Why don't men go to the Ladies?" the boy asked. 

"They go to the Men's," the woman replied. She lifted her arm, messing with the cuff again. "Come on!" she seemed to order it. 

"What's she doing?" the girl asked.

The door to their stall suddenly opened and the woman suddenly held up her hand, sort of pointing it at her. 

"What are you doing here?" the older woman who opened the door asked. 

"I could ask you the same!" the child exclaimed. 

"Shh!" the woman ordered, turning to the child. "You know her?" she asked softly. 

"She's my neighbor," the child explained. 

The woman lowered her arm. 

The redhead looked at the two in hospital clothes. "What have they done to you?" she asked the two of them. 

The strange couple looked at each other. "All we knew was that we had to get away." 

"Yeah, well, that goes for all of us." She pointed to the window. "That's our escape." 

The dark haired women went by the window and reached up to prop it open. "Come on." She squatted, linking her hands together at knee length. "Miss, you first, help them get down on the other side." 

The redhead nodded, using the leg-up to get up and climbed through the window. 

The boy followed, the child, and finally, the dark haired woman. She got out just in time, but almost didn't make it due to her height. They ran to a parking lot. The couple in hospital clothes winced at the sun's brightness.

"Come on, this way," the redhead ordered. She had the children's arms in her grasp and guided them. There was a green car. "Move, get in." She dragged the boy to get in the car as the child female protested. 

"But my friend's in there. Well, I only just met her this morning, but just I can't leave her." 

"Well, the bus is gone. Maybe she was on the bus. Now, get in," the redhead ordered. 

"I can't!" the child argued. 

The gates were closing, and the redhead pulled out a stick of lipstick and took the lid off. 

"A probe!" the woman exclaimed. "You have a sonic probe!" 

The redhead looked at her in surprise. She pointed at the gate and the doors opened again. 

"What's that thing?" the child asked. 

The woman opened the car door and grabbed the child, pushing her in. She pushed the seat back forward and sat down. She sat back as the redhead drove and focused on the witch who trapped her. "She's taken the Archetype and the Balance." And the rest was radio silence. The woman lifted her hand to touch the back of her head, the nape of her neck. 

The redhead glanced over at her. "Are you alright?" she asked. 

The woman jumped a bit. "Yeah, fine." She dropped her hand back into her lap. No one noticed the heart on her cuff glowing green lightly. 

* * *

 

"But who are they?" the child asked as she got out of the car, walking around the woman. "What were they doing in that factory?" 

The redhead helped the boy out of the car. 

The woman approached him, having a maternal instinct over him. She wrapped her arms around his shoulders, holding him close. 

"What were they _doing_ in there?" 

"Just leave it," the redhead ordered. "You go home, Maria. I can handle things from now on." She put her hand on the woman's back, guiding them forward. She hesitated a bit, feeling something. 

"But there's something going on."

The redhead just kept smiling and walking. 

"I saw you last night." 

The redhead stopped them from walking any further. She whirled around. "What did you say?" 

Nobody said anything.

"She said she saw you last night," the boy offered. 

The woman laughed a bit against him. 

"With that thing in your garden. That alien." 

The redhead walked closer to Maria. "Now, listen to me, Maria. My life is dangerous. And rule one, I don't put anyone else in danger. Especially not a kid." 

Maria rolled her eyes. "I'm not a kid!" she said. 

The woman snorted. "Yes, you are!" she interjected. "My people aren't considered adults until you're over 70, but that's an entire lifetime for humans so...." She trailed off. 

The woman hesitated for a moment, looking to the woman for a glance. She turned back to Maria. "Maria, just go back home. You watch telly, you do whatever it is you do. You just live your life as normal. You forget any of this happened. Have you got that? You stay away from me, for your own sake." 

The woman walked them into her house. 

"You hurt her," the woman stated. "The child. Maria." 

The redhead nodded, sighing. She left the room for a moment. "So, who are you two?" 

"I don't know," the boy answered. 

The woman didn't. She knew she'd already revealed too much and she's have to do something about the boy. 

A few minutes later, the woman walked back in. "But you must have a name." She had a tray. 

The woman turned to face the redhead.

She set the tray down. "If I'm Sarah Jane, then you're?" 

"All I know is that I had to run." 

 _'That was me,'_ the woman thought. She put her hands over her eyes, fingers on temples. She realized how much must've gone into the boy. She was 900 years old and only on her 3rd Regeneration. She ran, but she was careful. What would she do? 

"But you can talk!" Sarah Jane stated. "Someone must've taught you that!" She sat down, motioning to the chair beside her and the sofa in front of her when she noticed the woman. "Are you alright?" she asked again. 

The woman was lurched from her thoughts and swiftly turned to look at Sarah Jane. "Yes, yes, fine." She sat across from the boy and Sarah Jane. 

"Who was it?" Sarah Jane asked. 

"Everyone," the boy replied. 

"Well, what does that mean?" 

"It's the drinks," the woman answered for the boy. And when people go on the tour, they walk through this detector that scans their brains it gets sent to him. Everything those who walked through knew, he knows. But only facts, he doesn't know anything about personal things." 

The boy nodded. "I am everyone. And then I woke up and-" he looked to the woman "-she and I had to run.  The girl came, Maria, and then you."

"Well, think back. Before you ran, what can you remember?" Sarah Jane asked.

"I was born running." 

"But you must have a home." 

The boy looked around. "Is this your home?" he asked. 

"Yes, it is." 

"Can I live here?" 

She looked contemplating. "No. S... no, I don't think so." She sat back. Noticing him looking at the food, she offered, "Help yourself."

"Is this food?"

"Food and drink," she confirmed. 

"Which is which?" he asked. 

The woman pointed to the cups. "The liquid in the china is drinks and the solids are food. But not all solids are food and not all liquids are you supposed to drink. You'll learn to differentiate." 

Sarah Jane turned to the woman. "If I ask you what you remember, will you answer?" she asked. 

The woman shrugged. "Probably not." 

"Sarah Jane," a masculine voice called. 

The woman whipped around. "What was that?" she asked. 

"Nothing!" Sarah Jane insisted. 

"Who's that?" the boy asked. 

"No one!" 

"There was a voice," the couple said in unison. 

Sarah Jane shook her head. "No, there wasn't!" 

"Sarah Jane," the voice called again. 

Sarah Jane stood, using the armrests. "Not now!" she called back. She walked over and shut the door. 

"I thought you lived alone," the boy commented. 

 "I do." She walked forwards. "And whatever happens, you're not to go upstairs, you got that? It's private. You don't ever go upstairs unless I say so. 

The woman smirked. Oh, she never could resist a 'keep out'. 

"I don't even know you," she commented softly. Frowning, she sat back down. "Hold on. Now, don't be afraid." She moved the scanning watch up and down him. "Not alien. A normal, healthy lad. Human. Aging rate: normal. But this says you were born 360 years ago!" she exclaimed. She looked surprised, laughing. "No, you were born 360 minutes ago." 

The woman looked impressed. "6 hours." 

"Is that good or bad?" the boy asked. 

Sarah Jane looked alarmed and the woman bust a gut, she was laughing so hard. Pulling herself together, Sarah Jane turned to the woman to scan her as well. 

The woman lifted her hand so the heart on her cuff was in the way of the watch. 

Said watch began malfunctioning. Sarah Jane gasped and saw where her wrist was. 

"We don't know you either. He trusts you, but I don't." And she put her arm on the armrest and stared at the door, her face gone grim. "I had a friend who had a friend named Sarah Jane. Of course, her name ended with Smith and..." she shook her head as she remembered, "she was spectacular." She tilted her head for a moment. "Dramatic, but spectacular." 

"Dramatic?" Sarah Jane asked. 

The woman came back to reality and looked at her. Nodding, she answered, "Yes." 

The boy stood and walked over to a bookshelf. "May I?" he asked. 

Sarah Jane nodded, focusing on the woman. She stood, walking around with her watch open. She noticed the boy and looked shocked. "You can read?!" she asked, alarmed. 

"I can now." 

"You just learned!" 

"It's easy!" the boy insisted. He showed her the book, pointing to a word. "Letters and words." 

"Forgive me," Sarah Jane said as she took the book, closing it and her watch. 

"You couldn't save his page?" the woman asked. 

"But, if you don't mind, could you lift up your top. Just so I can see your stomach." 

"Oh la-la," the woman commented, moving her shoulders. 

"You've got no belly button," Sarah Jane commented, making the woman sit up. 

"Is that good or bad?" he asked. 

The woman waved her hands about a bit. "Neither, dear. I-it depends on your perspective." 

"But everyone who's born has got a betty button." 

"Why not me?" the boy asked. 

"You weren't born," the woman realized. "I think you were grown." 

There was a sudden banging on the doors followed by a muffled: _"Sarah Jane! Open up! It's me; it's Maria!"_

Sarah Jane went and answered the door. "I told you, leave me alone."

"But it's the man from the factory. He's on the street. He's here!

There was suddenly a child's scream. 

"Inside! Get in!" Sarah Jane ordered. She locked the door and braced herself against it as the beast banged against it. 

 

 

KELSEY: What is it? What is it? What is that thing? What is it?

ARCHETYPE: Hello, Maria. Hello, Screaming Girl.

"Never mind 'hello'. There's a great big alien out there!" 

"Please stop screaming. I can personally promise that no one is dying today, on this property."

"Oh, _you_ can promise, can you?" the screaming girl demanded. 

 

"What is it? What is it?" 

SARAH JANE: Get upstairs.

ARCHETYPE: We're not allowed.

SARAH JANE: I'm allowing you. Now go!

KELSEY: What is that thing?

MARIA: Just shut up and move!

(Davey rips the front door off and throws it away. He scurries across the ceiling.)

SARAH JANE: All of you, just run! As fast as you can.

'With pleasure,' thought the woman and she shot up the stairs faster than humanly possible. 

After that, it was mostly screaming so the woman tuned out anyone who wasn't the boy or Sarah Jane. 

 

"Wait here," Sarah Jane ordered as she kept running past them. She opened the door to the final set of stairs, to the attic. 

Maria went over to her. "What's up there?" 

Sarah Jane turned to her. "No, you can't go up."

The woman snorted. _'Like that's gonna happen.'_  

Once again, Sarah Jane held up her index finger. "I'll be ten seconds. Just ten seconds."

"You will die, Miss Smith. You and the squealing pigs," the beast said. 

The screaming girl stood behind the boy. "This is not happening. This is so not happening." 

"But that contradicts the facts," the boy stated. 

The woman barely contained her laughter at that. She stepped in front of the group of children. "And if we aren't squealing?" she called. 

"The Balance," he called gleefully. 

"I don't defend the balance anymore!" 

"Balance," the boy murmured. 

"Don't focus on that. Focus on this." The woman lifted her hands. Her right arm was extended entirely and her left was bent so her hand only reached her elbow. A blue bubble appeared over the entire middle floor. 

The beast lunged, but merely bounced off.

"First the children and then you, old woman." 

"Hey! Less of the old." Sarah Jane came out with a sort of 'fire exitinguisher' and shot some kind of mist at it. 

The beast fell down the stairs and turned back into a human. An attractive male, to a point, but he was not the woman's type. 

"It's the muffin," the thankfully-no-longer-screaming female child said. 

"That is a muffin?" the boy asked. 

"No," the woman asked. She was leaning on the railing, panting. 

The mist ran out and Sarah Jane hit the canister. "Pity. That was the last one." She noticed some residual black goo and tried to use a pencil to pick some of it up. 

Maria walked over to squat beside her new neighbor. "What's going on?" 

"Maria, don't get involved," Sarah Jane said sharply. 

"I think it's a little bit too late for that. ... Thanks. You saved our lives." 

"I suppose I did."

"Oh, my flipping heck!" the screaming girl exclaimed from upstairs. 

Sarah Jane figured out where she was and turned around. "No! Don't go up there!" she ordered. Maria followed her, Sarah Jane followed hot on her heels. "Who said you could come up here? Don't touch anything." The boy and woman followed her. 

"These things, are they alien?" Maria asked. 

"Some of them." 

"What is wrong with you?" the boy asked the panting and limping woman. Everyone turned to her. 

"I'm getting too old for this." 

The screaming girl scoffed. "How old are you?" she asked. 

The woman nodded at Sarah Jane. "Older than her... by about a century or two. Either I'm too old or I just need sleep. Or food. Or something else." She waved her hand. "As you were," she ordered, lowering herself to sit on a step. 

"Where'd you get it all?" Maria asked.

"I suppose you've seen too much now. It's not as if anyone's going to believe you." She sat beside the woman who had a name, but refused to give it. Maria sat beside her. "Aliens are falling to Earth all the time. It's not just those stories you hear on the news. All sorts of creatures. Some have got lost, like the one you saw me sending home last night. Some of them crash-land, and some of them want to invade. You still believe me?" 

Maria nodded. "Yes."

"Really? How come?"

"Because you're bonkers, but I don't think you're a liar." 

"Oh well, that's nice to know. No, except about the bonkers bit." 

All three sitting females chuckled. The Maiden, the Mother, and the Crone. (Who do you think is who?)

The boy commented, "This place is beautiful." 

The screaming girl flirted with the boy. 

"Is that good or bad?" he wondered aloud. 

"That's bad. That's very bad. It's just you, though. On your own," Maria added. 

Sarah Jane shook her head. "The government knows all about aliens." She stood. "And then there are secret organizations dedicated to finding them, but they tend to go in guns blazing. I just think there's a better way of doing it." 

"But how'd you get started?" 

Sarah Jane looked very happy to tell this next bit. "I met this man. A very special man, called the Doctor."

The woman looked at Sarah Jane sharply. "The Doctor?" she reiterated. 

"You've heard of him?" Sarah Jane asked. 

"Heard of him? We went to the academy together! I wonder how the war is fairing," she said offhand. She shook her head to clear the thought. 

"I think he's dead," Sarah Jane commented. 

"He's not. I can hear him." She tapped her head. "All 13 of him whizzing around. Just like how he can hear me." She began shaking her head again as she got lost in it. "He's being a strange one." There was a hint of a smile on her face. "He used to have a friend named-" She cut herself off, turning to Sarah Jane who looked curious. Struggling to stand, she walked over to Sarah and put her hand over Sarah Jane's cheek, just hovering. "My Darling Fire?" she whispered. 

"Darling Fire? No one calls me that but-" And she cut herself off, looking at the woman with new eyes. "Balance?" she cried, throwing her arms around the older woman's neck. 

"Oh!" The woman - "Balance" - picked her up and spun her around. "Actually, I go by Patience, now." 

Sarah Jane laughed. "You always were the best things in life, hidden in plain sight. And not always recognizable." Sarah Jane sighed happily, staying in Patience's hold. 

"Alright. Everyone's an alien. You, me, the Pope, James Blunt. Actually, I can believe that one." 

"But, Kelsey, you saw it. That great big alien creature." 

"Actually, it's called a The Bane Kindred," Patience said. 

"What?" Kelsey asked. 

"That's their species." Patience raised her hand. "And, actually, I'm an alien." 

The screaming child rolled her eyes. 

Patience narrowed her eyes. "Sarah Jane, have you still got that stethoscope I gave you in 1848?" 

Sarah Jane laughed as she remembered that adventure. She went and grabbed a tin box and carried it to Patience. She left the lid off and Patience grabbed the vintage stethoscope. 

The dark haired woman hesitated. "What this?" she asked, looking around the box. There were small trinkets that Patience had gotten her. 

"Everything," Sarah Jane answered. 

Patience bopped Sarah's nose. "I'm trying to be serious and you're trying to make me cry."

"No! Me? Never!" she exclaimed sarcastically. 

Patience shook her head, walking over to Kelsey. She took the ear pieces and put them in her ears, placing the end on her chest. 

"So you've got a heartbeat so what?" 

Patience moved the end over to the other side. 

Kelsey's eyes widened. 

A loud beeping sound began and Sarah Jane raced to a wall, pushing it up, and twisted the lock. She opened the door to reveal a tin dog floating around a black hole. 

Patience had walked over to her, her hand on Sarah Jane's back. It was remarkable how quickly her demeanor had changed since discovering who Sarah Jane was. "K9!" she greeted. 

"Greetings, Balance-Mistress," the tin dog replied. 

"It's Patience now," she corrected. 

"Patience-Mistress," he corrected himself. 

Patience turned to Sarah Jane. "Why is he in there?" she asked. 

"There was a scientific project in Switzerland. They created their own black hole. If it gets free, the Earth would be swallowed up, so K9's sealing it off." 

"Greetings, mistress," he greeted. 

Maria moved to sit by the safe. "K9," she reiterated. 

"He's my friend," Sarah Jane explained. 

"K9 as in canine? Oh, that's so lame," Kelsey commented. 

Patience turned and glared at her. 

"He's been in there for a year and a half now, plugging the distortion, and every so often he passes my way." 

"Your best friend's a metal dog with its bum stuck in a black hole?" 

It looked like Sarah Jane didn't understand the jab. "I know. How are you, K9? How do you feel?" she asked the dog. 

"Misunderstanding of the functional nature of this unit, Mistress. I do not feel. However, all circuits are functioning at full capacity," he did his best to reassure her. 

"Can you ever come out, K9?" Maria asked. 

"Oh, K9, this is Maria," Sarah Jane introduced the child. 

"Greetings, young mistress. I cannot emerge until this breach is sealed," he explained. 

"How long will that take?" 

Patience looked over at Sarah Jane, tilting her head in offering. 

Sarah Jane shook her head, sighing. "No, Patience, you're sonic doesn't always work out correctly."

Patience threw up her hands. "I had just regenerated!" she defended herself. "It was only my second body!" 

"I cannot estimate the duration of this task," K9 replied to Maria. 

"What does he eat, nuts and bolts?" Kelsey asked. 

Impatience, Patience turned to her, putting a finger to her lips. "Shh," she ordered. 

Kelsey looked offended and opened her mouth to argue, but found her voice gone. 

Patience smirked, crossing her arms smugly. 

"The small female is hostile," K9 stated. 

"Not anymore, she isn't," Patience said, her voice smug. 

"Patience," Sarah Jane scolded. 

"What? What's wrong? We can finally get some peace!" 

Sarah Jane gave her a disappointed look and pointed to Kelsey. 

Patience sighed, turning back to Kelsey and putting her finger to her lips again. "Un-shh." 

"What was that?" Kelsey asked. 

Patience raised an eyebrow. " _My_ alien abilities. I can do a lot more than that." 

"Regret I must transfer my co-ordinates, mistress," K9 told Sarah Jane. 

Sarah Jane had a disappointed face. "Bye, bye, K9. Good dog." 

"Affection noted, mistress," K9 said finally before flying off. 

Regretfully, Sarah Jane closed the safe. She twisted the lock to relock it and shut the board. 

"How long's he gone for?" Maria asked. 

"I don't know, but I miss him."

Kelsey giggled. 

Patience motioned to her. "If I could just-"

"No!" Sarah Jane cut her off. "And don't you laugh, Kelsey Hooper. But he was my dog, my daft little metal dog. And now, I'm on my own." She walked over to sit in a chair. 

Patience moved to sit beside her. "Not anymore," she decided, clasping her hands around Sarah Jane's left. 

"You'll stay?" Sarah Jane asked, looking hopeful. 

"Well, these are working," she lifted her wrists, "so I can't get to my TARDIS." 

Sarah Jane looked a little downtrodden at that. 

"I'm joking!" Patience laughed, nudging Sarah Jane's shoulder. "I remember where I parked it so I don't need these!" She laughed a little. 

Sarah Jane smiled, taking her hands in her own. "You'd really stay with me?" she asked. 

"For that smile, I'd use all my Regenerations up in an instant," Patience replied calmly. "But don't expect or ask me to turn into a man," she joked, but was slightly serious. 

* * *

Everyone was now somewhere in the attic, exploring, but Patience. She remained where she was sitting, exhausted. She should've known better than to make a fully powered shield. 

"What is wrong?" the boy asked her. 

"I either need to make shields more often or less," she answered, slurring a bit. "Dunno which." She took a deep breath, getting trapped in her own world. Suddenly, someone was in front of her. Patience blinked, leaning back to have her vision focus. 

It was Sarah Jane. "What's wrong?" 

"Mm," Patience tried and failed to speak. "When you were getting the spray, I made a shield and the Bane jumped on it."

"You made one of full strength?" 

"Yes," Patience replied. 

Sarah Jane shook her head. "After waking up only 2 hours ago? That was stupid." 

"I know, but he would've eaten one of the girls had I not." 

"You're abilities," the boy said. "Balance and shields." 

"Oh, shite," Patience said. She stood swiftly and walked over to him. She put her finger on his temples, closing her eyes. 

"You're weak enough as it is. It's not the time for telepathy!" Sarah Jane stated. 

"Sh," she ordered. 

"That's not going to work on me," the redhead argued. 

"I didn't want it to," she murmured. Opening her eyes, she said, "Whoa" and swayed on her feet. 

Sarah Jane came up beside her and slowly helped her lower herself to the ground. "When did you last Regenerate?" she asked. 

"It isn't a timed thing," Patience stated. 

"When did you become Patience?" she demanded. 

"About 400 years ago." 

"How long have you been asleep?" 

"I dunno." 

Sarah Jane sighed. 

"Uh, hello! I've got things from outer space living in my stomach. What are you going to do about it?" Kelsey demanded.  

"It's not my fault," Sarah Jane stated. 

"Yeah? You've got all this stuff, all these gadgets, and you sit here talking, yapping on all day about planets and monsters. What good is that?"

"I don't have that kind of information!" Sarah Jane said. 

Patience raised her hand. "I do!" She lowered it, groaning. "Bane's weaknesses are: loud noises, cell phones, most technology. When they fail the Mother Bane, they are eaten. And... they lay eggs." 

"How does that help us?" Kelsey demanded. 

"Use your head," Patience said. Her voice got squeaky before she fell forward. 

Sarah Jane caught her and laid her along the stair as she slept. She stood. 

Kelsey turned to Sarah Jane. "Why don't you actually do something?" 

Sarah Jane took a steadying breath. "All right, Kelsey. Just you watch. Mister Smith?"

"Yes, Sarah Jane?" the automated voice asked. 

"I need you," she said. 

To a fanfare, a stone fireplace in the corner cracks open and a set of consoles topped by a large screen emerge. 

* * *

"How're you gonna stop them?" Maria asked. 

"You tell me," Sarah Jane replied. 

"What? Do you mean you haven't got a plan? Nothing?" 

"No. The people I fight have plans and weapons, but I don't. It's what makes me different." 

"Don't you dare call U.N.I.T," the newly woken alien ordered. She sat up, standing. 

"That nap was quick," Maria said. 

"My kind don't need much sleep. I'll need to again soon, but, for now, I'm charged." She turned to Sarah Jane. "What in creation compelled you to call and threaten a hostile alien with nothing up your sleeve." 

"Well we've got you," Maria said. 

Patience turned to her. "And what am I going to do? I'm drained of energy, my sonics aren't working, and I could pass out any second! Maybe with my TARDIS or any of my usual supplies, I could intimidate them into leaving. Without them-" 

"Kill 'em," Kelsey said. 

Patience looked over her shoulder. "I have seen whole planets burn. I watched my own blaze. I killed once, but never - _again!_ \- do you hear me? I'll do this peacefully. We'll go to the factory and I'll use my rank to make them leave, but I _will not_ kill! No one will." 

Kelsey gave an attitude face. 

Patience, Sarah Jane, and Maria faced Mr. Smith. 

"Kelsey Hooper. Look," the boy ordered. 

They turned to see Kelsey holding a bottle of Bubble Shock! and leaning on a table. 

"You kept drinking it?!?!" Patience yelled. "Why? When you know there are aliens in it?!" 

"Help me!" Kelsey cried. 

"Oh, my God. It's beginning." 

Kelsey looked like she was about to hurl. 

"Kelsey! Fight it!" 

Kelsey went limp. She stood straight, holding up the drink. "Drink it!" she ordered. 

"It's the Bane! They're taking people over. Can't you do the telepathy thing?" Maria asked Patience, pointing at Kelsey. 

"Now's not a good time to pass out. Even entering her mind would drain me. If it doesn't work, I'll pass out and she'll force it down my throat!" Patience explained. "But you wish I'd shushed her now! Get out," she order the kids. 

Kelsey kept repeating the same two words. 

Patience grabbed Sarah Jane and pulled her behind herself, getting behind the doorframe. 

Kelsey advanced and Patience lifted her hands. They were both flexed open and a blue light covered every wall, covering Mr. Smith's wall which had closed once they left the room. 

"So much for not using up energy," Maria commented. 

"Please, she's human. She won't do much damage to the shield so she won't affect me." 

Maria scoffed. 

"Shall we go to the factory?" Patience prompted. 

They ran downstairs and out the door.

"I'm coming with!" Maria exclaimed. 

"You... are staying _here_!" Sarah Jane ordered. 

"Stay in the house," Patience said. "Ignore Kelsey no matter what she says or does." She ran around the car and got in. "And lock the door!" 

A bunch of people walked towards them, chanting 'drink it'. One of them was Maria's dad and she started pleading with him.

Patience sighed, got out - pushing the button to move the seat as she did so - and ran over to her. "Come on!" she ordered, dragging her back to the car, pushing her in. She moved the seat forwards again and sat. "Buckle up!" 

"This is bad, yeah? I recognize bad." the boy said. 

"What are we gonna do?" Maria asked. 

"Maria, there are two types of people in the world. Those who panic and then there's us." 

Patience looked at her sideways. "I told you that!" she said softly. 

Sarah Jane nodded, driving in reverse and swerved around. She drove quickly, maneuvering through the masses of hypnotized people and the people running from them. Sarah Jane used her teeth to pull off the lid of her sonic lipstick and pointed it at the gate. She drove right through. Coming to a stop, she got out. "I'm going inside. You stay here." 

Patience snorted as she got out in unison with Sarah Jane. " 'Cause that's likely." She pushed the button as she got out.

They children got out too. "No way!" Maria protested. 

Sarah Jane tried to use her sonic on the door, but nothing happened. 

"Deadlocked," Patience stated. 

"What does that mean?" Maria asked. 

"Means we can't get in. At least, not this way." 

While they struggled with the human things, Patience walked over to a truck, hotwiring it with her sonic wrist cuffs. 

"Think," Sarah Jane muttered. 

Patience beeped the horn lightly. 

The group ran to get in and Patience floored it, breaking the wall in. 

"Not too late for the party?" Sarah Jane commented.

"Miss Smith," the awful woman greeted. 

Sarah Jane got out. "I warned you. Leave this planet." 

"Have you met my mother?" she asked, pointing up. 

It was just like the little beast, only bigger. 

Patience got out the driver side. 

"Ah, Balance." 

Patience ignored her, looking up. "Seeding a level five planet is against galactic law," she called upwards. 

They all looked shocked.

"Oh, don't pretend you didn't know I wasn't from Earth. That's why you kept me.... To feed the boy knowledge." 

"Are you threatening me?" 

"I'm trying to help you. Leave... now. This is your one chance. Me and mine give offers. Chances of peace." She put her arm around Sarah Jane. "So, if you don't call this off, then I'll have to stop you." 

The beast snarled. 

"Leave them alone!" Maria ordered, like she had any authority. 

Patience sighed. "We told you to stay on board!" She held out her hand for Maria to take. 

"Too late for that," the child commented. 

Patience sighed, "Humans." 

"Oh, you've brought is the Archetype _and_ the Balance." 

"He is a living, thinking human being. You leave him alone!" Patience ordered. 

"What did you create him for?" Sarah Jane asked. 

"He's an assembly of thousands of different humans. A montage, you might say. A collage. On every tour of the factory we'd scan the guests, all 10,000 of them. And, then, we fed every strength and every weakness into him. The Archetype." 

"I am everyone," he confirmed. 

"And her?" Sarah Jane asked, nodding to Patience. 

"The Balance kept him alive, stable. And as she is not from Earth, she could give him alien knowledge." 

"Which is what I took from him telepathically," Patience told them. 

"But why?" Maria asked. 

"The 2% that wouldn't touch Bane. The Archetype could tell us exactly how to modify our product. And if it couldn't be achieved through mortal measures, we needed an Alien expert/scientist. We're still not sure where she comes from." 

"What you didn't know was that humans can't take everything that my kind can. We're literally geniuses compared to everything from the Medusa Cascade to the Milky Way to Akhaten. Human brains can't handle it. Not even Bane brains could." 

"Hm," the woman hummed, raising an eyebrow. "Well, anyway, since we've advanced our plans, they... are no longer needed." 

She pressed her ring and both the boy and Patience collapsed in pain. "You think we didn't anticipate you turning on us, Balance?" 

"No! No!" Maria went over to the boy, putting her jacket over him. 

Sarah Jane knelt beside her, wrapping her arms around the shuddering child. "They're children. I'm begging you, let them go." 

"Who're you calling a child?" Patience muttered, groaning quietly. 

"Oh, that's so sweet," the woman cooed mockingly. "But he's dying, and soon you will join him, like all our enemies. Our slave control is activated around the world. The time of man is over. The time of Bane is come. You've failed, Miss Smith. This is where your lonely life has led you."

"Only... she will never be alone again!" Patience called out, placing her hand over Sarah Jane's. She squeezed lightly. 

"And she's got me," Maria added. "And I've got this," she said quietly. She held up her mobile and it whirredand the Bane Mother retreated. 

Patience lifted her hand and pointed at it. The heart of her glove lit up green and the phone increased sound. 

"The device is tiny, and now you've angered the Bane Mother. Do you really think that's wise?"

Patience smiled. "Definitely."

A tentacle reached down and lifted a steel pipe. 

Sarah Jane pulled Maria down, her arms around her protectively. 

Patience waved her hand in front of her face, palm facing herself. A dome appeared around them. 

"Not even your petty shields can hold off the Mother Bane for long!" 

"Petty?" Patience reiterated. 

The Mother Bane slammed the pipe against the shield and Patience's back arched so her chest was thrust out and her face showed pain as she attempted to concentrate. 

"I told you to stay away," Sarah Jane said. 

"Know what? I'm still glad I didn't," she replied kinda. 

They looked at each other. That was what Balance said to Sarah Jane and Sarah Jane to Balance when they first met and almost died. 

"Mother, descend! And consume them!" the strange and evil woman called. 

"You forgot this," Patience said, holding up the communicator she'd snatched from the attic pre-escaping. 

"What is that?" the evil woman asked. 

"A communicator to another world." Patience stood. "Now, if I were to set the number to call the Bane, what do you think would happen?" 

The woman looked rightfully scared. 

"I see your mind went to the same place mine did. Now, I don't know the long number that was yours. However, I'm willing to wager he does." And she tossed the communicator at the boy. "You gave him the memory of 10,000 people. 

"Stop him!" the woman ordered. 

Patience flicked both her wrists, ending with her palms pointed outward. The men flew back. "I warned you," she murmured, an after-shock from the push blowing that moved her hair. 

As the boy recited and typed in the numbers, he stood. "Calling the Bane!" 

The alarms began blaring and Patience ran to help the human female's up, rushing them to the truck. She threw it in reverse and drove out. They got out and ran to Sarah Jane's car. The building exploded as they were driving out. The group laughed.

"Did we stop them?" Maria asked.

They continued laughing before Sarah Jane turned to the 2 still in the hospital clothes. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Patience gave an exhausted thumbs up.

"Their control has gone and I'm free," he declared with joy.

Maria laughed even more.

"That's good."

"Oh, yes, that's good!" She reached back and took his hand in hers. Her head tilted a bit as she came to a realization. "I would be dead without you. We all would! You're amazing, you lot. Amazing!" 

"This is happiness, yes?" the boy asked. 

"Oh, yes! We did it!" 

They three humans began cheering that. 

Patience just smiled, watching them. They were so... human! So happy. It had been a long time since she felt what she did at that moment. Hope. 

* * *

On the drive home, Sarah Jane turned to her. "You lied to me about your wrist cuffs not working." 

"No!" she said slightly sarcastically. "Well, partially. One of them is. The other..." She sighed, looking at her left wrist. "The teleporter isn't going. And the TARDIS isn't coming when I summon and I don't think it's where it should be. I suspect I did indeed forget where it was." She put her head in her hand. "Damn drugs." 

"Drugs?" Sarah Jane reiterated. 

"Yeah, what the factory pumped me full of to keep me unconscious. It wasn't designed for humans or I'd've woken up. No, it was alien and I don't remember where my TARDIS is." The whole car was brought down by that. In an attempt to re-cheer everybody up, she said, "So, I was right about the phone number! That would've been embarrassing if there were no numbers for him to memorize." 

The kids in the back giggled. 

Sarah Jane just looked at her, looking a bit sad. 

* * *

 

They parked the car and Maria ran out and across the street. The other 3 followed her. They walked around a corner as Maria's father was talking about the chemical imbalance. 

 _'That'll explain the explosion,'_ thought Patience. 

"Oh, hello," he greeted them. 

"Hello," Sarah Jane replied. "Just, um, just checking everything's all right," she offered. 

"That's very neighbourly," he declared. 

"Yeah, well. Sorry about before." She held out her hand. "Welcome to the neighbourhood." 

"She's a journalist," Patience supplied. "When you daughter said they were going to the Bubble Shock! factory, she remembered her story and didn't know how to politely end the conversation. She's very impulsive," Patience threw Sarah Jane under the bus. She said this as she looked around the room without touching anything. 

The man tilted his head. "It's certainly been eventful. it is always like this?" he asked. 

"No, this is a quiet day," Sarah Jane said. 

"And who's this?" he asked about the boy. 

"This...." She looked at him, trying to come up with a cover story that didn't make her sound like a kidnapper or molester. "Is... I suppose.... This is my son. My adopted son." She clapped him on the back, pushing him forward a bit. 

He approached the man. "Hello," he greeted, happy to get his wish to live with Sarah Jane. 

Maria's father held out his hand. "And what's your name?" 

"I don't have one." 

"Sorry!" Patience interjected. "He was... just adopted today. Which explains his clothes. We came from... the hospital. And he hasn't had a chance to change...." 

"He's called...." 

Sarah Jane was saved by a woman walking in and interrupting. "Look at you, leaving your front door open after everything that's happened. Did you hear about the chemicals? Oh, it was a nightmare!" She kissed Maria on the cheek. "I had Ivan-"

"Visitors," Patience said, cutting her off. 

She suddenly turned around. "And... and you are?" 

"We could ask the same. We were invited. You waltzed in like you owned the place," Patience stated. 

The woman looked at her, clearly surprised. 

"Sarah Jane Smith. I'm from over the road." 

"This is my mother," Maria introduced. 

"What's he wearing?" she asked. 

The boy looked down at himself. "These are the clothes I was born in." 

"He means, the hospital we just came from.... Before Sarah Jane adopted him.... It's where he was born.... And it's the same type of clothes....." Patience settled on that excuse. 

"Right. Oh, well. Thank you very much, but, if you don't mind, I've had a bit of a trauma." 

"We all have," Patience stated, loosing her namesake. Her eyes flashed to Maria's father. "He was one of those zombies. We were also on the receiving end." 

"Ok. Well, we'll be off." 

"This woman is rude," the boy commented. 

"Yep!" Patience agreed. "She acts as though she owns the place." She put her left arm across her torso, her right propped on it, her chin fitting between her middle finger and thumb, her index finger on her chin. "Now, which box is yours?" she asked. Raising an eyebrow, she laughed as Sarah Jane guided the boy away. At least she remembered not to ever try and stop one of Balance's telling-off's. "Just because a thought pops into your head doesn't mean you should speak it." She turned to leave but turned back, facing the people she slightly respected. "My apologies if that was rude. Just trying to be like her," she stated, looking Maria's mother up and down. 

"You don't have to go!" Maria offered. 

"Oh, come on, now. Invite the neighbours round, you'll never get rid of them. Next thing you know, it's holidays together. That is a recipe for disaster. No offence. Nice to meet you, Sarah Lou, and - what's your name?" 

"You couldn't pronounce it," Patience sneered. "And if you could, it might just burn up what's left of your miniscule brain. Just call me Patience, which I am running out of!" And she left. 

* * *

Later that night, Maria was sitting in the chair and Patience was on the ground, her hands pressing down on the soil between her crossed legs. Patience was now [wearing ](https://www.flickr.com/photos/32167770@N08/5533000818/in/photostream/lightbox/). 

Sarah Jane walked out with a tray of a pitcher of lemonade and 4 glasses. She laughed. "Patience is older than you and me combined and you made her sit on the ground?" 

"I volunteered. Didn't even give her the chance to say anything, just plopped onto the grass."

"It's true."  

"One... iced lemonade." Sarah Jane gave Maria a glass to pass to Patience who grabbed it with one hand, putting it on the ground. She put her hand back where it was. 

"Thank you, Sarah Jane, for playing hostess." 

Sarah Jane nodded at Patience in 'you're welcome'. She gave Maria the other glass and they clinked them together. "Cheers," they said in unison. 

"And it's normal pop," Maria said. 

"Horray for normal pop." Before taking a drink, she pointed at Maria. "How's your friend, Kelsey?" 

"She's backtracking like mad, saying it was all hallucination. No such thing as aliens" 

"But we know better." 

"Go' it!" Patience exclaimed loudly. She was so excited, she went Scottish. She grabbed the glass right before a tree began to grow from where her hands were. A branch grew beneath her and lifted her as the tree grew. "Good thing too. I was running out of patience."  

Maria snorted. "I can't believe you said that to my mum." 

"Do you want me to apologize when I see her next? I can come up with an excuse like I was off my medication or something. But it probably won't do any good. I'll just end up sassing her out again." 

"Nah, I'm just in awe. No one talks to my mum like that." 

"Oh, and next time she mispronounces Sarah Jane's name, I'm gonna send her where the names are like Chemnashaovirodaintrachivu. Give her a reason to mispronounce a classic name," she muttered. 

The girls laughed at her.  

"Ha, ha. You think I'm joking. I've got the planet in mind for her too: Semchanach." She looked up at a window of Sarah Jane's house. "Sarah Jane could I stay here... just for the night! I'll find my TARDIS tomorrow, I'm sure. I'll stay in Ealing once I do, but I... don't want to impose." 

Sarah Jane smiled. "You can stay here as long as you like." She took a sip. "So, I never asked the Doctor. How often do you need to sleep?" Sarah Jane asked. 

"Only about an hour every 2 weeks so that's about 10.714285692 seconds a night." 

"Could you sleep longer?" Maria asked. 

"Probably," she replied while munching on an ice cube, "but I'll probably regenerate because my body'll think I'm dead." 

"What's 'regenerate'?" Maria asked. 

Sarah Jane and Patience looked at each other.

"That's a story for another time," Patience decided. 

The boy walked out in jeans and a t-shirt and jacket. 

"Oh, that's more like it," Maria commented. 

"Watch yourself," the Time Lady warned Maria. 

He looked up at Patience in awe who waved at him. He stood in front of the two normal sitting girls. "This is good?" he asked. 

"Yup!" Mara reassured. 

Sarah Jane patted beside her for the boy to sit. 

"How are you gonna adopt him, then? I mean, you need forms and things. Who are you gonna say his real mum is, the Bane Mother?" 

"Mister Smith's sorted that. Officially done and dusted. All he needs now is a name," 

"You can choose your own," Maria declared. 

"I like yours. Maria," he stated as calmly as always. 

Maria laughed. "Maybe not. How about Jack? Josh? Nathan?" Maria started listing names. 

"Harry? Alistair?" Sarah Jane continued. 

"What about Luke?" Patience asked, remembering the name from a talk with Sarah Jane ages ago. 

"I like Luke," Maria said. 

"I like Luke," Sarah Jane agreed. 

They all turned to Patience who was wiping under her eyes where she had begun crying. "Why are you asking for my approval? I'm the one who suggested it!" she exclaimed, her voice cheerful and cracking. 

"If you like Luke, I like Luke," Luke decided. 

"Did you know someone named Luke?" Maria asked. 

"No, I- I just remembered something." 

"That's the name I was always going to choose if ever I had kids. Except it never happened," Sarah Jane decided to reveal. 

"But now it has. Luke Smith. You're a mum," Maria said with glee. 

"I am," Sarah Jane realized, separating her hands. She turned her head, smiling, before putting her hand on Luke's. 

"I never asked. Have you got a boyfriend, or-?" 

"Oh, there was only ever one love for me. And after them, nothing compared. When I was your age I used to think, "oh when I'm grown up, I'll know what I want. I'll be sorted." But you never really know what you want, you never feel grown up, not really. You never sort it all out. So, I thought, I can handle life on my own. But after today, I don't want to!" she realized gleefully. 

 

Luke looked up. "What's that? " he asked. 

There was a light crossing the sky.

"It's just a plane," Maria told him. 

"That's a flying machine, right?" he had to make sure. 

"It's a spaceship," Patience said, remembering the adventure. Sarah Jane went to stand, but Patience held out her hand. "He's seen it. We've taken care of it. It's a past adventure for me. You could go, but I'd have to stay here. I can't see myself." 

The children were looking between the two, wondering what adventures they'd gone on. 

"I saw amazing things, out there in space. But there's strangeness wherever you turn. Life on Earth can be an adventure, too. You just need to know where to look," Sarah Jane told them. 

"Indeed," Patience commented, staring at the beautiful redhead. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The next chapter will be shorter. This one is long due to the length of the episode itself.


End file.
